1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer systems that are battery operated and have display screens. More specifically, the present invention relates to portable electronic devices and systems.
2. Related Art
As the components required to build a computer system have reduced in size, new categories of computer systems have emerged. One of the new categories of computer systems is the “palmtop” computer system. A palmtop computer system is a computer that is small enough to be held in the hand of a user and can therefore be “palm-sized.” Most palmtop computer systems are used to implement various Personal Information Management (PIM) applications such as an address book, a daily organizer and electronic notepads, to name a few. Palmtop computers with PIM software have been know as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Many PDAs have a small and flat display screen associated therewith.
In addition to PDAs, display screens have also been implemented within other portable electronic devices, such as cell phones, electronic pagers, remote control devices and other wireless portable devices.
These portable electronic devices, such as PDAs, are often battery powered. Some portable electronic devices utilize rechargeable batteries and others use cells that need to be replaced after some limited period of use. As portable electronic devices become more complex electronically, their power consumption rates have also increased. Because they have limited battery energy, some PDAs and other electronic devices, such as cells phone, electronic pagers, etc., have relatively short operational periods between which battery replacements or recharging is required. With respect to rechargeable PDAs, cell phones, electronic pagers, etc., they typically have little more than a day of stored battery energy before they need to be recharged. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an electronic device having a screen that functioned in a way to enhance the device's battery life.
Certain PDAs manage their battery life in an intelligent manner. For instance, if the battery life of certain PDAs falls below a predetermined low level, the user is given a screen message indicating that a battery recharge or replacement is needed and should be done right away. In this manner, the user can perform corrective action before any information is lost. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an electronic device having a screen that enhanced and managed the device's battery life in an intelligent manner.
Some color flat panel displays utilize a back lighting element, such as a cold cathode fluorescent (CCF) tube. These elements consume a relatively large amount of energy from a battery operated device. It would be desirable to provide an electronic device that offered a color display but also managed the device's battery life in an intelligent manner.